


Running Like Water

by Ivegotaheadlineforyou



Series: passed down like folk songs [2]
Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: Angst, Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, F/M, Falling In Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26067226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivegotaheadlineforyou/pseuds/Ivegotaheadlineforyou
Summary: This was the story she was given. And as she felt her heart break, as she felt Hadestown dig its ancient claws into her sides, she gave herself over to the memories of him.***Even though she knows Hadestown will take all her memories, Eurydice cannot help but remember her lover.
Relationships: Eurydice/Orpheus (Hadestown)
Series: passed down like folk songs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1867240
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	Running Like Water

**Author's Note:**

> Based on "cardigan" from Taylor Swift's Folklore
> 
> Hadestown belongs to Anaïs Mitchell. cardigan belongs to Taylor Swift.

_i knew you’d linger like a tattooed kiss, i knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs_

Two sets of brown eyes locked on each one another. Her’s were backed by fear, and the dark whisps of the underworld, coming up to claim it’s prize. It bet on the loss of a lover and it won. His were shocked, his eyes brimming with the pain of losing to the house on what he thought was such a sure bet. He turned and his face fell, back lit by the world and all it’s paths she didn’t get to walk anymore. Her mind moved at a mile a minute. She saw everything, from the first touch of their hands in a crowded bar on a cold night, to the endless possibilities of what-ifs, of what would happen if she got to stay.

“It’s you,” she choked out, as she watched the page flip on their love story. As she watched the gods shelve them. _Better luck next time_ , they would laugh, knowing there wasn’t a next time. This was it for her. Orpheus was it for her.

This was the story she was given. And as she felt her heart break, as she felt Hadestown dig its ancient claws into her sides, she gave herself over to the memories of _him_.

_i knew you, tried to change the ending, peter losing wendy_

“You finished it,” she remembered sighing. He turned to see her. Eurydice’s eyes felt bright and _alive_ as they stared back at him. He couldn’t tell if it was surprise or awe that she looked at him with, but his question was answered by how she threw herself into his arms. He had done it.

Orpheus pulled her to him, Eurydice’s heart finding his like a magnet, plowing through lives and worlds to find one another. She remembered wanting to glue them together, their own magnetic pull not something she trust enough to keep her safe and in his arms.

“You finished it,” she had whispered, her lips mere inches from his. “You did it.”

It looked as if Orpheus couldn’t breathe, as if with his love so close to him once again, nothing mattered. Not even breath. His heart beating louder than her voice in his ear. She moves slowly as he set her down on her feet, but didn’t let her go. There was heartbreak on his face, as if he was afraid that his wife, his shade, would melt away into more smoke and mirrors, a haunting reminder of what he’d done to her. His hands found her hips, his forehead found solace against hers. She felt like high on his presence. She could remember the tingle that shot up her spine, that made her want to curl into him.

“Now what do I do?” Orpheus whispered, mostly to himself, but she heard him too. She smiled, bringing one hand from the back of his neck to cup his cheek, leading his lips to hers.

“You take me home with you,” She said, joy in her voice, before pressing her lips against his. Orpheus smiled against her embrace. She didn’t know how he found it funny that their roles should be so reversed. He had always been the poet, inspiring embraces with lilting lyrics. He had always been the one to sweep his Eurydice off of her feet — whether she was working the bar, or pouring herself another cup of coffee in the hazy summer mornings they loved to spend together. He would pull her into his embrace, sending coffee and curses flying, but followed swiftly by laughs.

Eurydice had been the planner. She measured teaspoons as if they were the scales of justice. She counted days, and jars, and fire exits. When they were faced with a bill they couldn’t pay, or a dilemma that didn’t come hand in hand with a solution, she got quiet. Orpheus was fascinated by the way she shut down all parts of her brain that didn’t help fix things. Eurydice had yet to come across a plan she couldn’t fix.

The clearing of a throat awoke him from his dreamings. It woke Eurydice up too. She pulled away slightly, turning to look at Hermes.

The Old God, cursed with delivering messages and reminders and arrows meant for other people that always grazed him. Eurydice looked between Hermes and Orpheus, and she could feel how confused she once was — trying to figure out a plan that had not yet been created. But Orpheus saw in Hermes eyes exactly what he needed to do. He had changed their fate, that much was true. But it was time to secure it.

She remembered the moment she clued in to it. She looked up at her poet, and all she could think was how her shoulders were already burdened with her own guilt. She didn’t know if she could save them yet again. She didn’t know if she could carry anything more on her back. Please, Poet, she could feel those words on her tongue now. Take me home with you. Shelter us.

Harbour me.

_i knew you, your heartbeat on the high line, once in twenty lifetimes_

“Orpheus put me down!” Eurydice shrieked, laughter in her voice. The sound of waves crashing in the distance drowned out a lot of her excited laughter. The sun was low in the sky, the sky painted with bright cotton candy colours, and they had just arrived at the calm shoreline. They had walked a full day to get there, and Orpheus was right. it had been worth it. She had dropped her bag, and pulled off her shoes, running right to the water. Orpheus wasn’t far behind her, and once he caught up, he lifted her right into his arms.

She leaned back as Orpheus spun her around, splashing in the low tide, the cuffs of his jeans soaking wet already. When he put her down, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him tight to her, before pulling back to look out at the seemingly endless abyss of the water, this beautiful, monstrous place where chaos was allowed to reign free.

“I didn’t expect it to smell so salty,” She said laughing, He giggled with her, closing his eyes and facing towards the sea.

“It’s it amazing,” Orpheus said, sliding his fingers down her arms, to take her hand in his. He pulled on her just a little and she walked out, allowing the waves to kiss her ankles as they rolled up onto the shorelines. She stayed where she was, not ready to go any deeper. He stood with her. The sky was slightly grey, the clouds blocking a lot of the sun, that peeked through every once in a while. The breeze was cool on her skin, the water chilly on her toes as it came and went.

Eurydice remembered the feel of the water on her ankles, the salt in her nose, his hand in hers. She remembered how it felt to stand so close to an endless abyss, and feel safe in the grasp of her lover.

“Mister Hermes had business out here when I was little,” Orpheus told Eurydice as they huddled together later in the evening. They had found a grassy patch a ways back from the water, and had set up for the night. Eurydice had spread out their thin blankets on the softest patch of grass while Orpheus had washed and peeled the fruit the had brought with them for supper. After they had eaten, Orpheus pulled her to lean back against his chest, his chin resting on her shoulder, while she fiddled with their hands. “He let me tag along. I used to run and splash in the water until I was too tired to walk home.” Eurydice smiled, listening intently, his words building beautiful watercolours of his childhood — carefree. careless.

The sun broke through the clouds as it retreated past the horizon. She remembered leaning her head back on his shoulder, feeling his heart beat in tandem with hers. She couldn’t remember what it was like to not know the steady beating of his heart. Falling backwards now, she realised how few people get to memorise it. How many lifetimes each soul must go through, desperate for the steady heartbeat of their lover.

As she was pulled further into the darkness, losing light the same way they did at the edge of the sea that day, the heartbeat Eurydice heard in her ears was not her own.

 _If I only remember one thing_ , she bit her tongue, branding this to her memory, _let it be the beating of his heart._

_i knew you, dancing in your levi’s, drunk under a streetlight_

She remembered loud music. Bawdy brass noises, undercut with the surprise percussion of a piano. She remembered looking around at the sweaty bodies, dancing in their coats that were too thin for the weather outside. She remembers the earthy smell of the bar, the sticky feeling under her hand, the man serving drinks giving her a glare when she asked if she might have a cup of hot water. _No tea or coffee?_ she remembered him asking. _Nothing stronger than water?_ She shook her head and thanked him in a whisper.

She remembered how her voice sounded, mingling with the loud music, when she called out. _“_ Anybody got a match?” The man with the drinks dropped a pack with three matches left on her table next to her water. She remembered thinking his silver suit must have been made of pure light. She had never seen someone like him before.

The loud bar, the bright lights, the condensation on the windows. She remembered feeling like the patrons of the bar were dancing for dear life, desperate to keep themselves warm enough, until their exhaustion finally allowed them to sleep despite the gnawing cold. Eurydice remembered the ripped tights she wore, the feeling like her scarf kept coming untied when she didn’t want it to. Like her bag was constantly being pulled on.

She knew now that those things were not coincidences. The same fate that held her limbs now, pulling her further and further away from the pinprick of light that she could still see, was pulling on the ends of her hair in that bar.

But mostly, she remembers the trembling in his voice when he said _come home with me_. She remembered the way she laughed at the idea that a song could save the world. She could still feel his paper flower, crumpled in her hand. Her spin shivered at the memory of the way he sang that night — the words to a song he didn’t really know yet, the melody enough to bring him hope. Enough to renew his belief in the love of immortals, and how words, words, words could save them. She called him naive. She remembered thinking how silly he was.

She remembered his hand on her waist when he promised her the world. His fingertips against hers the very first time and the lightning they conducted. She could feel the way the train shook the ground, and passing it off as nothing. Nothing could shift her world quiet like his hesitant but desperate lips against hers the very first time.

And as the sun finally disappeared, and the heat of Hadestown pressed at her back, she whispered one thing into the darkness.

The figures, bending light and darkness at her back, cackled darkly. _He can’t hear you,_ they whispered, venom pouring into her ears. When Eurydice opened her mouth to call out again, louder this time, she felt the allotter wrap her hand around her throat. She felt cold, so cold. _He won’t follow you again_ , they murmured as she went numb. She could feel herself forgetting already, the upperworld claiming her memories as it’s own. But still she whispered. _Come home to me_.

She felt her lover’s heartbeat from within her chest. She might lose the names and faces and details and memories. She might never relive another moment of the short and blissful life she spent with her lover, but she knew, as red heat bled into her sightline, that he had given her his heart.

She knew this because she could hear it pounding away inside her chest to a very specific melody.

_when you are young they assume you know nothing_

**Author's Note:**

> The second in this new series! I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> I can be found at @brightas-arose on tumblr, or @mappingoutasky on twitter!
> 
> Send me prompts on Tumblr, and follow for updates! Thank you for reading!


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